NA TURE 



481 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1917. 



AYIATIOIS! AND AIR-POWER. 



(i) Air-Power : Naval, Military, Commercial. By 

 C. Grahame-White and H. Harper. Pp. viii + 

 262. (London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1917.) 

 Price 75. 6d. net. 



(2) The Aviation Pocket-book for 1917 : A Com- 

 pendium of Modem Practice and a Collection 

 of Useful Notes, JFormulae, Rules, Tables, and 

 Data Relating to Aeronautics. By R, B. 

 Matthews. Fifth edition. Pp. xix + 300. 

 (London : Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1917.) 

 Price 45. 6d. net. 



(3) The Properties of Aerofoils and Aerodynamic 

 Bodies : A Text-hook for Aeronautical Engineers, 

 Draughtsmen, and Students. By A. W. Judge. 

 Pp. x + 298. (London: Whittaker and Co., 

 1917.) Price 155. net. 



(i j " A IR-POWER " is a non-technical survey of 

 ■^*' the position of aviation and its future, 

 both in the military and civil senses. The book 

 raises p>oIitical as well as technical issues, and in 

 the preface says that dominion of the air must 

 mean ultimately the dominion of the world. 

 Naturally enough, we find that Britain is to lead 

 the world, but on the whole the book depends for 

 its subject-matter on the ideas and propositions 

 now well known in aeronautical technical circles, 

 and the dominion looked for appears to be in the 

 arts of peace rather than in those of war. 



The book adds one more to the number of well- 

 deserved tributes to the prowess of the British 

 pilot during the war, and voices a fairly generally 

 held opinion that natural aptitude for flying is a 

 great and characteristic asset of the nation. It 

 should not be forgotten that the war provides an 

 outlet for sporting instincts which will be absent 

 from the more humdrum work of the civil pilot, 

 and the genius of the Germans for the organisa- 

 tion of humdrum labour should not be lost sight 

 of in our efforts to avoid the suppression of indi- 

 viduality. The authors point out that in the pre- 

 sent war the Germans reapea an initial advantage 

 from the use of large numbers of mediocre aero- 

 planes, the organisation of the Allies for obtaining 

 air supremacy being said to have been ineffective 

 until the summer of 1916. 



In future wars the authors foresee huge raiding 



expeditions by aeroplanes, the airship being 



heavily discounted by reason of its vulnerability to 



attack. On the other hand, aeroplanes are rela- 



I tively safe from land-fire, although the proportion 



1 of machines brought down in this way is steadily 



! increasing. During raids each bombing squadron 



i is to be escorted by faster machines of a fighting 



I class, whilst for long expeditions means will have 



', to be discovered of keeping formation, the ten- 



1 dency being for units to separate and lose contact, 



: thus rendering themselves more liable to attack 



' from the opposing aircraft. 



As a result of these bombing tactics we are 

 to be driven underground. Arsenals, Govern- 



XO. 2494, VOL. 99] 



ment buildings, 'and factories of national import- 

 ance are all to hide their diminished heads. 



It is to be hoped that the aeroplane will not be 

 such a terrible weapon of offence as is portrayed 

 by the writers of "Air-Power." Fortunately, the 

 discussion of the technical details of the future 

 aeroplane gives hope for a reasonably lengthy 

 period in which to adjust ourselves to the new 

 world that is to be. 



The future aeroplane is to travel at 200, 250, or 

 even 300 miles an hour, and to accomplish this 

 with safety the area of the wings is to be variable 

 to a great extent between high speed and cruising 

 speed. They are to have petrol turbines instead 

 of the present reciprocating engines; many of 

 them may be used in one aeroplane, which will 

 probably be a multiplane. There is to be a Trans- 

 atlantic service doing the journey in forty-eight 

 hours, and air travel is to be the ideal form of 

 touring, because there will be no dust and no 

 petrol fumes, apparently not even from the tur- 

 bines. With such a machine it is surprising to 

 find that the authors are doubtful of their pilots, 

 and say that careless pilots must not on any 

 account be allowed to take charge of machines, or 

 the public might get timid. 



The programme outlined is scarcely ever out- 

 side the bounds of possibility, but views on avia- 

 tion will have changed greatly long before the 

 programme is completed. If the authors do not 

 convey their full enthusiasm to their readers, it is 

 hoped that they are helping to make known the 

 growing conviction that aeronautics is going to 

 take a not unimportant place in the future history 

 of the nation. 



(2) Engineering pocket-books, no matter what 

 the branch dealt with, must contain a certain 

 amount of common matter, and in the case of the 

 aviation pocket-book the formulae for the strength 

 of struts and beams and the permissible loading of 

 ball-bearings are instances of this common ground- 

 ing. The specialised part of pocket-books comes 

 from the standard text-books of the branch, and 

 in aviation these books are still in the early stages 

 of development. The formulae and tables of the 

 pocket-book are correspondingly meagre. 



The aerodynamical information with which the 

 book opens is correct enough, so far as it goes, 

 but one may doubt its assistance to designers, 

 who have much more recent and complete informa- 

 tion at their disposal. On the subject of stability 

 the book is very weak, and the brief note on 

 lateral stability is valueless. 



The author has given the method and formulae 

 used in the design offices when devising pro- 

 pellers, and as these are of a standard type the 

 pocket-book will form a source of handy reference. 

 It is probable that in the near future the theory 

 will be extended, but not superseded. Engines are 

 described mainly by the reproduction of the reports 

 of trials, but some of the notes on tuning and 

 engine faults are taken from the older subject of 

 motoring, and should provide valuable assistance 

 to those concerned in the use of aeronautical 

 engines. 



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